A conventional wheelchair has a frame equipped with front and rear wheels and a body support composed of a seat member, a back member, and one or two foot rest members. It is conventional to provide for vertical adjustment for the foot rest member so as to enable persons of different height to use the same chair comfortably. Some wheelchairs in use heretofore also have provided a hinged or pivotal coupling between the seat and back members to enable the back member to be adjusted from a substantially vertical position to a rearwardly inclined position. Although such wheelchairs have many desirable attributes, those available heretofore have been inadequate to meet the needs of many handicapped persons.
It is not uncommon for a handicapped person to have hip or knee flexion limitations which produce unwanted reflex patterns if the angle between the spine and hip or between the hip and knee is not confined to one within the flexion limitations. Not all of the presently available wheelchairs can accommodate these limitations.
It often is desirable to adjust or tilt the body supporting members of a wheelchair so as to make a person more comfortable, and without changing the angular relationships between the person's back, upper legs, and knees. No known wheelchair is capable of functioning in this manner.
Some persons require a chair that is more or less custom fitted to their needs. However, the acquisition of custom fitted chairs for a large number of persons can cause financial hardship to the persons and/or to institutions which they may be required to attend. For example, a handicapped person often must travel by car to doctors'offices, hospitals, therapists'offices, schools, and the like. It is desirable that any especially fitted chair construction for any such person be capable of being removed from its wheeled frame, when desired, so as to facilitate its use when the person is travelling or attending one of the abovementioned offices or institutions. Known wheelchairs, however, are incapable of accommodating this objective.
An object of the present invention is to provide a chair construction which overcomes the problems referred to above.